Malconvoker

MagICal TrICksTers In The gaMe

An NPC magical trickster makes an interesting and unpredictable opponent . She seems to be a typical spellcaster until she suddenly performs a powerful and difficult trick—then repeats it a moment later . Magical tricksters tend to avoid one another unless of the same faith, guild, or school, so you should probably avoid introducing more than one per encounter . Players who like flexibility and variety should find the prestige class appealing . A magical trickster can serve the party with either her spells or her tricks, adapting as needed to a given encounter . adaptation

You can easily change this prestige class into a psionic trickster by replacing spells with psionic power points as the “currency” for reusing tricks . Rather than sacrificing a spell slot or prepared spell to recharge a trick, a psionic trickster expends 2 power points . sample encounter

Magical tricksters seek out other trick users to discover new tricks . A PC who uses a skill trick in public might get an unexpected visit from a magical trickster .

EL 11: Sorilae Hartsel is an amazing, playful beauty with a cruel streak . She enjoys showing off her abilities, using them to seduce gullible tricksters into revealing their tricks, then abandoning her lovers to move on to the next game . If her skills alone are inadequate, she turns to charm spells to get what she wants . Sometimes she uses her newfound skills to humiliate and torment her unwitting mentors . The PCs might stumble across Sorilae on her way from or to an assignation . If the party contains a trickster PC who seems an interesting prospect, she attempts to attract that character’s attention with an eye to collecting a new trick .

Sorilae Hartsel CR 11

Female human sorcerer 8/magical trickster 3 NE Medium humanoid Init +2; Senses Listen +3, Spot +3 Languages Common, Draconic, empathic link AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 12; Dodge (+2 Dex, +1 deflection, +1 natural) hp 36 (11 HD) Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +10 Speed 30 ft. (6 squares) Melee mwk dagger +5 (1d4–1/19–20) or Melee whip +4 (1d3–1 nonlethal) Ranged mwk dagger +8 (1d4–1/19–20) Base Atk +5; Grp +4 Atk Options skill tricks, tricky magic Special Actions metamagic trick, spontaneous trickster Combat Gear 3 potions of cure moderate wounds Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 10th; 1d20 +12 to overcome SR): 5th (4/day)—dominate person (DC 20) Sorilae Hartsel, a magical trickster

4th (6/day)—charm monster (DC 19), phantasmal killer (DC 19) 3rd (7/day)—haste, heroism, fireball (DC 18) 2nd (7/day)—daze monster (DC 17), glitterdust (DC 17), touch of idiocy (+4 melee touch; DC 17), web (DC 17) 1st (8/day)—mage armor, magic missile, protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement (+7 ranged touch; DC 16), shield 0 (6/day)—acid splash (+7 ranged touch), detect magic, light, mage hand, mending, open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost (+7 ranged touch), touch of fatigue (+4 melee touch; DC 15) Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 21 SQ familiar, share spells, spontaneous trickster Feats AlertnessB (if familiar within 5 ft.), Dodge, Extend

SpellB, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip)B, Sweet Talker*,

Spell Penetration, Still SpellB *New feat described in Chapter 3 Skills Bluff +22, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +7, Disguise +5 (+7 acting), Escape Artist +2 (+4 involving ropes),

Intimidate +7, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Listen +3, Sleight of

Hand +5, Spellcraft +12, Spot +3, Use Rope +8

Illus. by H. Lyon

Skill Tricks* Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Group Fake-

Out, Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration, Timely

Misdirection, Whip Climber *Described in Chapter 3 Possessions combat gear plus 2 masterwork daggers, amulet of natural armor +1, ring of protection +1, cloak of Charisma +4, jewelry worth 200 gp

Dos, Tiny Viper Familiar CR —

NE Tiny magical beast (augmented animal) Init +3; Senses scent; Listen +6, Spot +6 Languages empathic link, speak with master, speak with reptiles AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+2 size, +3 Dex, +6 natural) hp 16 (8 HD) Resist improved evasion Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +10 Speed 15 ft. (3 squares), climb 15 ft., swim 15 ft. Melee bite +8 (1 plus poison) Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Base Atk +5; Grp –6 Atk Options deliver touch spells, poison (Fort DC 10, 1d6

Con/1d6 Con) Abilities Str 4, Dex 17, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 2 Feats Weapon Finesse Skills Bluff +10, Balance +11, Climb +11, Concentration +14,

Hide +15, Listen +6, Spot +6

MalConvoker

“Take him, my slaves! Drag his soul back to your dark masters!” —Argyll Te’Shea, servant of Pelor and malconvoker

The standard concept of the perpetual war between good and evil is clichéd to some: a black-and-white vision of reality, suitable only for religious sermonizing . A few who understand the complexity of the battles that rage throughout the planes have taken up a dangerous path, entering into powerful pacts with the foulest abominations of the Lower

Planes to turn evil against evil . These daring summoners are malconvokers, and they bargain with their lives . beCoMIng a MalConvoker

The vast majority of malconvokers are sorcerers and wizards (typically conjurers) who focus on summoning creatures . A few clerics find the class interesting, but most have difficulty accepting the idea of using evil creatures to accomplish good acts .

Entry Requirements

Alignment: Any non-evil. Skills: Bluff 4 ranks, Knowledge (the planes) 4 ranks. Languages: Celestial, Infernal. Feats: Augment Summoning, Spell Focus (conjuration). Special: Ability to cast summon monster III.

Class feaTures

As a malconvoker, you turn the powers of your enemies back upon them, deceiving creatures into opposing those they might typically ally with . Your evil foes are least prepared to deal with the same arsenal of abilities and tactics they employ themselves .

Spellcasting: At each level beyond 1st, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level . You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained . If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a malconvoker, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known .

Deceptive Summons (Su): At 1st level, you can attempt to trick evil creatures you conjure into serving you for longer than they normally would . When casting a summon monster spell to summon an evil-aligned creature, you can attempt a Bluff check as a free action, opposed by the creature’s Sense Motive check . If your check succeeds, the duration of the effect is doubled (as if by the Extend Spell feat), and the summoned creature might be subject to additional effects as described below . If it fails, the duration remains as normal and no additional effects can be applied . If you fail the check by 5 or more, the creature breaks free of your control and is hostile toward you (though it still disappears as normal when the spell’s duration ends) .

If you use this ability when summoning multiple creatures, you must attempt an opposed skill check separately against each creature you wish to affect .

Beginning at 4th level, you can whip the deceived creatures into an infernal fury . If your Bluff check to extend the duration of summoning succeeds, the creatures get a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls and 2 extra hit points per Hit Die (in addition to the bonuses conferred by Augment Summoning) .

Beginning at 7th level, you can instill the deceived creatures with exceptional resistance to your enemies’ attempts to control or dismiss them . If your Bluff check to extend the duration of summoning succeeds, the creatures get a +2 bonus on Will saves, and your effective caster level is increased by 2 for the purpose of resisting dispel magic and similar effects against those creatures .

Unrestricted Conjuration: For the purpose only of casting conjuration spells, you can ignore any restrictions that forbid you from casting spells of certain alignments . In addition, regular use of conjuration spells with the evil descriptor does not threaten to change your alignment . For example, a good cleric who becomes a malconvoker could cast summon monster I to summon a fiendish raven (whose alignment gives the spell the evil descriptor) . The cleric could not cast death knell, though, which has the evil descriptor but is not of the conjuration school .

Planar Binding: Beginning at 2nd level, you can add the following spells to your class spell list and your list of known spells (or your spellbook) at the indicated levels . If you already have one or more of these spells on your class list at a different level, treat it as being of the lower level . 5th: lesser planar binding. 6th: planar binding. 8th: greater planar binding.

Skill Focus (Bluff): At 3rd level, you gain Skill Focus (Bluff) as a bonus feat . If you already have this feat, you can select any other feat for which you meet the prerequisite .

Fiendish Legion (Ex): Once you attain 5th level, whenever you use a summon monster spell to summon one or more evil-aligned creatures, you summon one extra creature of the same kind .

Deceitful Bargaining (Ex): Starting at 6th level, you become exceptionally adept at convincing evil creatures you call that your intentions parallel their own . Upon calling an evil outsider using a planar binding spell, you can make a Bluff check opposed by the creature’s Sense Motive skill check .

If you succeed on this check, the called creature becomes more amenable to your cause, taking a –5 penalty on the opposed Charisma check made to refuse serving you . If you fail, the creature immediately makes a new Will saving throw against your spell . On a failure, the spell functions as normal . If it succeeds on this save, the creature breaks free of your control and can either flee or attack you .

Improved Calling (Su): At 8th level, your understanding of the ways of fiends shows you how to tempt even more powerful beings into your service . The normal HD limit for your planar ally and planar binding spells (including lesser and greater versions) increases by 2 .

Safe Summoning (Ex): At 9th level, you can dismiss any evil creature that you have summoned as an immediate action rather than as a standard action . PlaYIng a MalConvoker

You have always honed your conjuration magic beyond that of your other spells, even flirting with the idea of summoning powerful fiends to do your bidding, but you never actually carried through with such a disreputable act . At least, not until that book appeared . Many malconvokers—too many for pure coincidence—were set upon their path by a seemingly serendipitous event: the appearance of a thin folio bound in black scales entitled the Vital Pact .

This thesis, written in Celestial, discusses the limited ranks and resources of the extraplanar forces of good as opposed to the endless armies of the Lower Planes . It calls for vague new allies from realms only hinted at but also posits that, for the armies of light to survive, evil must be made to combat itself . Such a philosophical treatise would normally inspire few, were it not for the last page . Each copy of the work bears a name—a truename—handwritten in red ink along with notations to aid in summoning a specific fiend . (See the Tome of Magic supplement for more about truename magic .) With the essay’s radical ideas fresh in the reader’s mind, often echoing similar personal thoughts, the temptation to investigate the darker side of conjuration is usually too strong to resist .

None can say who penned the Vital Pact, how the work mysteriously enters the possession of certain spellcasters, and where the unique closing notations come from . Even the fiends first summoned using the text seem wholly ignorant of its contents or how they became involved . Although many malconvokers accept the Vital Pact as a boon from some hidden patron or celestial power, some scholars fear a more sinister underlying motive .

Whatever the truth, you have been chosen . Someone or something wanted you to receive a copy of the Vital Pact and take up the challenge it proposes, even if you never actually hold the book in your hands . Whether you willingly accept this mandate or seek to discover its source, you cannot deny the effectiveness of its teachings and the good you could put them to .

As you grow in power, your involvement in the planar battle between good and evil also increases . You might begin seeking out places where fiendish influence has leaked into the world, seeking to scour such taints from your home plane . Alternatively, you might travel to other planes, seeking out celestial forces or infiltrating oft-contested infernal battlegrounds such as Acheron, Pazunia on the Abyss’s Plain of Infinite Portals, and Hell’s first layer, Avernus .

Table 2–10: The Malconvoker Hit Die: d4

Base Attack Fort Ref Will Level Bonus Save Save Save Special Spellcasting

1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Deceptive summons, unrestricted conjuration — 2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Planar binding +1 level of existing spellcasting class 3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 Skill Focus (Bluff) +1 level of existing spellcasting class

4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Deceptive summons (fury) +1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th +2 +1 +1 +4 Fiendish legion +1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Deceitful bargaining +1 level of existing spellcasting class

7th +3 +2 +2 +5 Deceptive summons (resistance) +1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Improved calling +1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th +4 +3 +3 +6 Safe summoning +1 level of existing spellcasting class

Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Bluff, Concentration, Craft, Disguise, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Profession, Spellcraft.

Illus. by K. Yanner

Combat

As a malconvoker, you rarely fight alone . The versatility of the summon monster spells allows you to conjure many allies, whether you are a solitary traveler or part of a group . With enough such spells and your fiendish legion class feature, you can become the general of a small infernal army . Your other powers, although sometimes risky, also ensure that the creatures you summon stay longer and are more powerful than those summoned by your enemies .

least, together you can plumb the often cryptic passages of the Vital Pact to gain further insights into your art . MalConvokers In The World

“I have dwelt in darkness for eighty thousand years, seen the deaths of gods, and feasted on the souls of worlds. I would not be tricked by a mortal wizard.” —Cvol Visok, nalfeshnee dupe

advancement

You come to understand the ways of fiends, honing your words to offer the proper mix of compliments, threats, and promises to whet their infernal desires . As you grow in power, so do the beings you deal with, increasing the forces you can bring to bear but also the risks in bargaining with such corrupt abominations . Tricking powerful fiends is much more difficult than manipulating lowly minions .

Thus, you should max out your Bluff skill to get the most out of your deceptive bargaining; increasing your Charisma score is also important for planar binding negotiations . Put ranks into Knowledge (the planes) to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the creatures you summon, so you can choose the best allies for a given situation . Feats that aid your summoning are also helpful, such as Cloudy Conjuration (Complete Mage) or Complete Divine’s Rapid Spell (which reduces the casting time of your summon monster spells to a standard action) . resources

While advancing as a malconvoker, you continue to strengthen your spellcasting ability, though if you are a divine caster affiliated with a church, your peers might have reservations about your methods . Nevertheless, you might be able to discover and contact other malconvokers (by succeeding on a reasonably difficult Knowledge [arcana] check) . These peers welcome the rare fellows they encounter and might be convinced to share their research and even magic items related to summoning . At the very

The malconvoker prestige class gives non-evil player characters a chance to use some of the most powerful creatures in the game—and the most dangerous . Malconvokers run terrible risks in attempting to turn pure evil to the service of good . Moreover, they might alienate righteous allies in exchange for tenuous pacts with fiendish servants . The Vital Pact, that peculiar text that indoctrinates so many malconvokers, also sets up a dark mystery with possible celestial or infernal ties . organization Nearly all malconvokers have studied the Vital Pact, whether or not they possess a copy of the book . Some are fanatics devoted to its radical call to arms, others are researchers hoping to reveal its shadowed origins, and still others are conjurers who seek more versatility in their spellcasting . This shared knowledge puts malconvokers into a strange sort of group, if not an Argyll Te’Shea, especially organized one . No obvious thread links a malconvoker those who come across that strange text, beyond their affinity for summoning magic . Malconvokers quietly share their knowledge of extraplanar beings, methods of deceiving those they summon, and, in rare circumstances, the truenames of potent or easily duped fiends . They secretly correspond with one another through mundane letters or spells to protect their own identities and those of their peers, understanding that people in powerful positions abhor their methods . A malconvoker or his agent often leaves a letter in a wellused cache, where another can check for correspondence without drawing attention . Favored spots include statues in crowded public places, especially those with angelic or religious themes . Every malconvoker risks having his true identity revealed to a fiend he once tricked into his service, which might then track him down and exact horrific retribution . For most, this dreadful prospect never becomes reality . But